What Is A Gigabit Router?

Gigabit routers are the best in the market if you are looking for a high-speed router for your PC, laptop or any other device that needs a high-speed internet connection. But many do not know the right kind of router for the purpose. Routers these days come with different kinds of ports, and if you want to have high-speed internet connectivity, you need to choose the port that supports those high speeds. Hence, you must know which router to choose not just based on the price or the brand, but it should be done with regards to the ports too.

It all comes down to wired networking. If you are still doubtful about what a router is, it is the bridge between the network device and the network cable. A router gives the internet access to your device. But routers have become more advanced than ever before. Now, they can distribute the internet between multiple nodes. Now, the catch is that a router must have a sufficient number of ports to handle that many devices. These ports are called LAN ports. These ports are also called Ethernet ports. Now, there are several classifications of ports and choosing the right one is crucial if you want to utilize your internet connection fully.

What Is A Gigabit Router?

In essence, a gigabit router is a router that allows 1000 Mb or 1GB of data per second. The name gives it away as gigabit normally denotes 1GB. Before gigabit, there was a technology called Fast Ethernet. The Gigabit router is responsible for doing a lot of work, and if you only have a single device, it is capable of doing much more such as:

Acts a mediator between your network via your router or modem and the external internet that are, more often than not, packaged as a single device

It also routes the connection to the internet through your home. If you look at it, it is pretty clear that the router is responsible for routing the traffic.

It handles the different connections to the switches that can help you with connecting several devices at a single time.

It is also responsible for handling the Wireless Access Point that gives you the Wi-Fi.

How Quick Is Gigabit Ethernet Really in Practice?

Several factors and reasons such as network protocol and re-transmissions that happen due to transient failures and collisions limit the devices to be able to transfer helpful data messages at the full rate of 125 Mbps or 1 Gbps. However, under standard conditions, data transfer can be carried out quite effectively over the cable, and that might reach as high as 900 Mbps, even if it happens for short periods.

On desktops, disk drives have been known to significantly limit how the connection of the Gigabit Ethernet works in regards to its performance. The rates of the conventional hard drives are usually recorded somewhere between 5400 and 9600. This is in revolutions per second although the data transfer that it can handle is only ranging from 25 to 100 megabytes per second.

Also, it is pertinent to note here that Gigabit Ethernet ports on some home routers might possess CPUs that might be capable of handling the required load that it needs in order to support outgoing or incoming data that is processed at perfect internet speeds. The equation is pretty easy. It will be significantly less likely that your router processor supports the transfers at maximum speeds over any specific links if the concurrent traffic network sources and client devices are more.

You must also consider the bandwidth which is a huge factor that is responsible for limiting the internet connection. This is because even if an entire home network gets a download speed of 1Gbps, even if you have two connections running simultaneously, you can halve the bandwidth on both the devices immediately. It is also true for all types of concurrent devices.

Do I Need A Gigabit Router?

Do you need a really fast connection? Yes, you do! Nowadays, it is common to see people stream 4K videos on the internet. The main criteria for loading 4K videos on your device is a blazing fast internet connection. The applications don’t just end there as there is more! Today, the number of gamers who upload direct streams of their games online is becoming a common occurrence. One should note that it takes internet bandwidth to play games online and the direct upload of the video in real time takes a big chunk of the data package.

Internet speed is the key here. When the internet speed goes low beyond a certain limit, the frame rates begin to lag, and the whole experience becomes very cumbersome for the viewers. So, games prefer a high-speed connection to their devices. But as we discussed, it is no use if you have a very high-speed internet connection and don’t have the hardware to back that speed up! Gigabit routers are becoming the choice for online personalities all around the world. Another area where gigabit routers are used in large numbers is in a collaborative workspace. When you are part of a team that spans across the globe, the internet is the only thing connecting everyone. When work needs input from every team member in real time, it calls for the use of Gigabit routers that can get the job done smoothly and efficiently.

Servers are another field that makes use of the high-speed bandwidth of the gigabit routers. Today, even household appliances have become smart and can be connected to the internet. Therefore, the servers need to be on top of their game to manage the heavy network load. With gigabit routers, the work gets done easily and most importantly, quickly!

Conclusion

Hence, as can be seen, Gigabit Ethernet has a wide range of applications and advantages. Considering that it provides approximately 1 billion bits on an average per second, Gigabit Ethernet can be called as the backbone in several networks of enterprises.